So I recently downloaded nmap, and have been trying it out, learning how it works, etc. I'm pretty positive my ISP's TOS says that I may be banned for port scanning, and I wanted some clarification of the mechanism of the -D RND command. (I have also been using the -sS command, to stay as non-obvious as possible.) From what I understand, the -D RND Command spoofs my IP so that it appears to the target as if it is being scanned on various ports by a bunch of different sources? Will the -D RND Command be able to disguise to my ISP that I am port scanning? How would the ISP even be able to tell that I am port Scanning in the first place?

The -D flag (standing for Decoy) sends out your scan with a bunch of other scans from random IPs. Yours still gets sent back to you, but the others get sent off to wherever they were "sent" from by you. The target thinks that 10 people are scanning (in the sense of "nmap -D 10 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx") when really only one is. Makes it harder for them to get to you. However, your ISP knows it's still you. All the packets are coming from you, even the spoofed ones. They can probably tell by the volume and type of packets you are sending. What I would do is send everything through a remote SSH connection, so it looks like you are just talking to your own box somewhere. It's encrypted, so they can't really inspect your packets.

Okay. I'm running vista (not my first choice, believe me), should i try to connect to the ssh then use nmap, or should i configure nmap in such a way that it runs through the ssh? I'm like a complete noob when it comes to this, so i apologize for being totally dumb.

Alright, thank you very much. Do you know of any good places to find SSH servers that i can connect to? I found some sites with lists and lists of them, but if you know of anything thats definitely secure, that would be very nice. Thanks for all your help!

Aquatriton wrote:Alright, thank you very much. Do you know of any good places to find SSH servers that i can connect to? I found some sites with lists and lists of them, but if you know of anything thats definitely secure, that would be very nice. Thanks for all your help!

Lulz, "SSH Servers". The word you're looking for is "shells". Just do a Google search for "free shells".